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Project Hail Mary – Film Review

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, James Ortiz, Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung, Milana Vayntrub, Priya Kansara

Directors: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

Synopsis: After waking up on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there, an unlikely astronaut is tasked with a desperate mission to save the Earth…

Review: What would you do if you awoke from a coma and found yourself the only person alive on a spaceship light-years away from home, with no recollection of who you are or how you got there? At first, your reaction might be one of confusion, which soon gives way to panic and sheer terror. However, as the pieces of your memory slowly but surely reassemble, you realise that you’re humanity’s last hope for a desperate mission, a Hail Mary if you will (a term defined as a last-ditch pass in American football), where failure will mean life as humanity knows it will witness a catastrophe of apocalyptic proportions as the sun slowly dies. No big whoop (!).

This most unlikely of heroes is Ryland Grace (Gosling), who while living on Earth, was a high school science teacher and molecular biologist. We learn through a series of flashbacks that Grace was recruited by the non-nonsense, straight-talking Eva Stratt (Hüller) to study astrophage, leading to the troubling discovery that this microorganism absorbs energy from our sun and infects other stars. Upon realising that astrophage is a fuel source, the governments of the world form a plan to send a crew of astronauts on board a ship, the Hail Mary, on a one-way trip to a distant star unaffected by the substance. Upon waking up from his coma, and looking like a long-lost member of The Beatles during their hippy era, Grace learns he is the sole survivor. Yet, despite being millions of miles away from home, Grace soon discovers he may not be alone in his mission to prevent the sun from dying.

Throughout film history, and indeed as history itself has taught us, the vast, infinite void of outer space can understandably seem like a truly terrifying entity, showing us how infinitely small we really are within the vast spectrum of our solar system. In addition, it also shows how perilous a place it can be if you make even the slightest wrong move. Yet the reverence for space, and the science by which humanity propelled itself into it, are evident in Andy Weir’s novels. That veneration was captured so magnificently by Ridley Scott and screenwriter Drew Goddard in the adaptation of The Martian. Therefore, it is no surprise that Goddard has, after making his directorial debut in 2018, returned to Weir’s to adapt his 2021 novel, again depicting another man isolated and cut adrift from any other human soul. Only, instead of the rest of the planet banding together to get one man off the Red Planet and return home, it falls to one man (and a companion) to save the Earth and humanity from their slow and inevitable doom if the Sun were to die.

In the same vein as The Martian, Goddard’s script effortlessly balances the bleak reality of humanity’s fate if the mission fails with the humour of finding the most reluctant hero of them all in space. “I put the not in astronaut,” Grace defiantly states during a crucial meeting. He might not be able to do a moonwalk, but he has the necessary scientific knowledge to pull off a miracle. It is fitting in a movie where the fate of Planet Earth rests in the hands of one man, where the film will live or die on this performance, that Gosling meets the moment and delivers a cosmically brilliant performance. Here’s an actor who has the range to deliver the stoic and serious when required, but can also effortlessly switch it up with humour when required, especially when it comes to Grace’s extraterrestrial company. The details of which shall not be spoiled here, but suffice to say, the chemistry between Grace and this mysterious being is perfectly delivered, proving that no matter who is acting opposite him, Gosling has chemistry with anyone and possesses charm that can last for days, maybe even light-years.

In a world that is more bitterly divided and fraught with each passing day, with certain sections of society going so far as to question well-established science, the film’s championing of science and its central theme of humanity and alien life working together to achieve a common goal feel particularly pertinent. If two creatures who have never met before can come together to achieve a common goal, it should serve as a lesson for all of us to do the same, given the very existential threat we face in the 21st century. The exact specifics of the science that is causing the sun to die might whizz over audiences’ heads initially, but the film’s key message about the importance of science as a means of working together to solve problems shines through and will not be lost on anyone.

Greig Fraser’s majestically dazzling cinematography adds plenty of awe and spectacle throughout, making the audience feel like they’re along for this ride with Grace. After more than a decade away from the director’s chair(s), Lord and Miller’s confident direction, with another cerebral score from Daniel Pemberton, allows the film’s humour, science, and mission to mesh perfectly like scientific samples in a test tube, arriving at the perfect conclusion. Space can undoubtedly be hazardous and perilous, but anyone who doesn’t find themselves swept up in the enthralling and heart-warming interstellar ride about the most unlikely of friendships in the most unlikely of circumstances, then you might just have a heart made out of stone.

Crafting the perfect formula of science, a life-affirming friendship between man and an extraterrestrial being gives you a visually stunning out-of-this-solar-system adaptation of an extremely timely story about working together to achieve a common goal.

Amaze amaze amaze.

The Martian – Film Review

Cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kata Mara, Jeff Daniels, Sean Bean, Kristen Wiig, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sebastian Stan

Director: Ridley Scott

Synopsis: An astronaut is presumed dead after a deadly storm separates him from the rest of his crew. Yet after surviving the storm, he is alone on Mars and must use all the resources he can find to get back to Earth.

Review: The thought of being the only person on an alien world, with seemingly no means of getting off, and being one hundred and forty million miles from home, is one that would probably send most people in that situation absolutely bonkers, and give them a complete sense of hopelessness with very little chance of survival, and result in them frittering away the remainder of their days on the Red Planet. However, this is not applicable in the case of Mark Watney, who instead of that aforementioned feeling of impending doom, after he has been abandoned by his crew as he is presumed dead during a deadly storm, opts for one of upbeat and positive. In turn providing an extremely entertaining space adventure that fuses comedy and some intense moments brilliantly.

With his fourth entry into the science fiction genre, director Ridley Scott has produced a much needed return to form somewhat after his most recent run of films have been met with a less than positive response, namely Prometheus, Exodus and The Counselor. The likes of Alien and Blade Runner showed that Scott knows the genre and knows how to pull it off in some style, and in what is almost a blend of Gravity and Interstellar produces a third another enthralling space adventure in as many years. Interestingly enough (spoiler alert for Interstellar!) Matt Damon who had a surprise cameo in the aforementioned film is back in a very similar situation to the one he found himself in Interstellar, but this time he is the man we’re rooting for, and he brings charisma and great humour to this role, so much so that you cannot help but want him to succeed and find his way home. With his situation looking increasingly bleak, he has to use his intelligence and his botanist skills to ensure his survival.

While The Martian battles to stay alive on the Red Planet, the focus alternates between the team at NASA who are working to try and bring him home alive, whilst dealing with the PR disaster that a man was left behind on a hostile world. Whilst at the same time, going back and forth with his crew mates who are solemnly making their way back to Earth, contemplating their supposedly fallen friend’s fate. The cast is quite extensive and filled with some big Hollywood names, with the likes of Jessica Chastain as the captain of the Mars mission, Jeff Daniels as NASA’s CEO, Chiwetel Ejiofor with his expert knowledge of the Red Planet and Sean Bean as a flight director. It’s a big scramble for these guys to get the materials they need to ensure that whatever they can do to get Mark Watney home, they will do it, but not without some bickering and disagreement along the way.

It takes some bravery to take a story like this in which one man is almost certainly staring death in the face and make it uniquely entertaining, but this film managed to do it and do it perfectly, thus props must go to screen writer Drew Goddard for that. Matt Damon effortlessly brings his unique brand of humour and charisma to the role, whilst using his ingenuity and remarkable intelligence to try and survive. Yet it is far from sunshine and rainbows all the time, as there are more than a few intense moments where our leading man is put in some more than perilous, potentially fatal situations.

The Mars scenery is beautifully recreated and the direction, as is more often than not the case with Scott, is excellent. The score by Harry Gregson-Williams is tremendous and adds plenty of suspense and drama along the way. The film does drag in places and could have maybe been cut down in parts, but nevertheless, it is a pleasure to see Scott truly back on top form and for Damon to once again remind us of his remarkable talent.

With a terrific (and large) ensemble cast, filled with the cream of the Hollywood crop, with a superb and humorous lead performance from Damon, to go along with a very witty screenplay, this is Scott’s best picture in some years.